


Bereft

by BastardPrince



Series: trc: Gansey and Ronan [4]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Background Joseph Kavinsky, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-05 01:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17315693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BastardPrince/pseuds/BastardPrince
Summary: Gansey looks at his watch. 9:08 AM, Saturday morning.If Ronan hasn't made it back by noon, Gansey decides,I will do something about it.---Ronan stays out all night with Kavinsky. Gansey worries.





	Bereft

Ronan hadn't returned to Monmouth Manufacturing last night. Ever worried, Gansey sat up waiting for him, pacing though the streets of cardboard Henrietta. 

_He must be with Kavinsky. He must be._ As much as Gansey doesn't want it to be true, it’s better than several alternatives that come to mind.

Ronan, returning to the Barns and violating the terms of his father's will. Ronan, sitting in a jail cell. Ronan, lying dead in a ditch.

Gansey looks at his watch. 9:08 AM, Saturday morning. _If Ronan hasn't made it back by noon_ , Gansey decides, _I will do something about it._

* * *

Two hours crawl by. Gansey desperately tries to focus on anything other than Ronan's absence. All the while, he can feel his anxiety mounting.

At 11:36 AM, Ronan strolls in.

He's fine. _He's fine._

With his main source of worry alleviated, Gansey feels anger bubbling inside himself.

“Ronan Lynch,” Gansey says, his tone deadly. “Where have you been.”

The way Gansey asks, it seems less like a question and more like an accusation.

A grin cuts across Ronan's face. “K and Jiang hitched a couch to the Supra. It was like the world's shittiest roller coaster.”

Gansey blanches. He sits down hard in his desk chair, leaning forward to rest his face in his hands. He had imagined Ronan drag racing with Kavinsky and his crew, but at least then we would be _inside_ the car. He hadn’t pictured Ronan actively _trying_ to get injured.

Footsteps approach him.

“Dick?”

Gansey doesn't respond.

“Gansey?”

When Gansey looks up at him, Ronan is shocked by the anguish in his eyes. He stands there, uncertain.

“You stink, Ronan Lynch.”

A bark of laughter escapes Ronan's lips. “Good one, Gansey. If we were in third grade I would be devastated.”

Wrinkling his nose and shaking his head, Gansey says, “No, really. You smell like sweat and beer. Go take a shower, then we'll talk.”

Gansey is the only living person who can tell Ronan to do something and actually expect it to get done. As proof to this, Ronan nods and heads off to the kitchen-bathroom-laundry.

* * *

Ten minutes later, when Ronan emerges from the shower, wearing one of Gansey's t-shirts and a pair of boxers, he finds Gansey sitting on the edge of his bed. The sleepless night and hours of worrying have caught up to him, and he's sitting with slumped shoulders.

Ronan pads over to him and motions for Gansey to move over. Gansey pulls his legs up onto the bed and scoots back to lean against the headboard. Ronan takes his place, sitting on the edge of the bed. 

“Why can't I keep you safe, Ronan? No matter what I do, you always go back to Kavinsky. What am I doing wrong? Am I not enough?” 

Ronan sits silently. 

“I just don't understand.”

Climbing up onto the bed, Ronan throws one leg over Gansey's hips and straddles his waist. Then he presses his nose into Gansey's neck.

Gansey inhales. Ronan smells fresh and clean from the shower. He catches a whiff of his own cologne as well. It must have lingered on the t-shirt Ronan has on. 

Softly, and slightly muffled from his face being pressed against Gansey's throat, Ronan begins to speak.

“With K, with Kavinsky, I can be my worst self. I don't care about him, so I can fuck around and break things and I can pour all my rage into him. That way it’s him that hates me. Instead of you.”

Gansey grips the backs of Ronan's thighs, pulling him closer. “I appreciate the sentiment, Ronan. But Kavinsky is going to self-destruct one day, and you’re going to get caught in the blast zone.”

“Kavinsky’s a fucking idiot. I’ve lived through worse than him.” Ronan pauses and leans back to look Gansey in the face. “I will always come back to you, Gansey. _Always._ ”

Gansey nods and closes his eyes. Despite the fact that Ronan hasn’t said that he’ll do anything differently, Gansey feels better. His mind spins with a million things that he should be doing instead of lying here under Ronan’s comforting weight. 

Ronan drops his face back into the crook of Gansey’s neck. “Stop thinking. I’m here.”

“I know.”


End file.
